During the Covid-19 pandemic, 3.2 million UK households bought a pet to stave off lockdown loneliness. Unfortunately, where that kind of cash goes, criminals usually follow.

Pets4Homes, the most popular pet-classifieds platform in the UK, was soon besieged by fraudsters and cybercriminals keen to dupe would-be pet-owners. Axel Lagercrantz, its CEO, soon realised that the unprecedented consumer demand led to a spike in activity from sophisticated and multi-disciplined criminal gangs.